Star Wars: The Old Republic to Launch December 20th!

A long time ago, right here in this galaxy in the decade that taste seemingly forgot something amazing happened; a cultural phenomenon, an event; (Dare I say a force?) That snapped all of us out of our disco fever; something we call Star Wars.

It would change everything. I recall standing outside of the movie theater with my best friend Joe. It was the summer of 1977 and I was 13 years old. As the line slowly moved ahead, Joe and I discussed what we would see? “I wonder if it will be like Flash Gordon?” he said. “I’m thinking Space 1999 with a guy in a black helmet.” I said. We didn’t know then that we were soon to experience our first brush with something that would become an integral part of our society and many other societies around the world. It would be like nothing we had experienced before.

Who doesn’t remember the first time Darth Vader appears searching for those Death Star Plans; the blaster fire of the Storm Troopers; Princess Leia’s desperate attempt to get the plans to Obi Wan, as it may well have meant the future survival of the Rebel Alliance. She was beautiful, the troopers were terrible to behold and Darth Vader seemed evil personified! Right away we were concerned! What would happen to the princess? Who was this Obi Wan guy? When would I find out more? I took a deep breath and held it until the R2D2 and C3PO managed to escape in the POD to begin their adventures on Tatooine.

Good, evil, sacrifice, passion, and a sense of honor and duty; Star Wars had it all and I was hooked; forever. Action, adventure, romance, technology, and mysticism; all were introduced in this “Episode IV.” This mystical power; the force.; what did it mean? When would I learn more about it?

With the feeling of joy and relief following the destruction of the Death Star came the questions; Darth Vader got away! Would he survive? What would happen next? How would Han deal with the price on his head? What was next for Luke and Leia?

I remember having a sense of greatness as I watched the film and that sensation remained the next 4 times Joe and I went back to the theatre to see Star Wars again. We were in awe. This film was going to be a classic and a part of our culture. We would be talking about Star Wars a long time.

I almost had that feeling again a few times over the years. I recall getting close to that sense of significance when I was watching the first Indiana Jones movie. This too was going to be a classic but more a great film than a life-changing event.

I’ve been looking for that sensation and stir of emotion again for the last 34 years and have had to assuage my desire to live in the Star Wars universe with frequent references to the films and registering my official religion as “Jedi” during the last census. I’m here to tell you; I feel it again and you can too! Soon Bioware will launch what may well be the most anticipated MMO in history: Star Wars: The Old Republic!

On December 20th, we will all be able to experience the Old Republic with our guild mates and friends and not only will we be able to witness another story unfold but we will be a part of it!

Here at TOG within the Old Republic Division, we have been hard at work setting the stage for what we believe will be a part of our lives for many years to come.

Guilds are forming, people are chatting, and we are all having a great time collectively waiting for the game to launch. The community is vibrant, active, and wild about all things Star Wars and we just learned our pre-launch guilds will be ready for deployment when the game launches!

We would love for you to join us. Right now you can sign up for a guild and get set up for an automatic guild invite in-game on launch day or join in the discussion, view a trailer or one of the gag videos members have posted. You can check us out here: TOG Star Wars: The Old Republic Division.

Note: PCs using a built-in graphical chipset are recommended to have 2GB of RAM.

Star Wars: The Old Republic requires a video card that has a minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM as well as support for Shader 3.0 or better. Examples include:
•ATI X1800 or better
•nVidia 7800 or better
•Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better
DVD-ROM drive – 8x speed or better (required for installation from physical editions only) Internet connection required to play.

yeah, it’s the processor that’s really killing me. i managed to play borderlands, fallout 3, and rift… but skyrim and TOR.... doubtful. i’m just on the border of complete obsolescence. my computer still runs pretty well. shame that. i guess that’s what christmas is for now.... to go nuts and consume.

I must say, I am not a Star Wars lover (did not mine the new ones, found Luke to be a little, lame) but wow, I am actually looking forward to this, should be a great game, and for those who have not followed, it’s not all light sabre’s they have got the whole gammet includign the space shooty bits, woot.

I agree. As someone who also remembers waiting in the movie line that wrapped around the outside of the theater with my best bud, I can certainly relate. We had a rather large collection of the Star Wars action toys including the X-wing, Tie Fighter, Hoth play set, and a model of the Deathstar. Man I wish I still had those!

Great article Jon - stirred some memories of my own :) Only problem now is it’s going to feel even longer before it starts with that build up ;) Started watching the bluray edition of the movies...only one more of the new ones before I can get to the originals! New ones may look pretty in parts, but for me they’ve got nothing on the originals :)

I have not been this excited about a game coming out since Resident Evil 5! Mind you, that was not as good as hoped for, but I have a real good feeling about this! Better still, it really sounds like they fixed a lot of the issues I had with WoW… I can’t wait!

I played in the last beta weekend and will again this weekend. I had such a great time and can’t wait to get back in. I am signed up to play TOG Republic side so I have been playing Empire during beta. Going to try a different class this time, but miss the Sith Marauder I played last weekend. You really do get attached and invested in your characters quite easily in this game.

well i have been lucky enough to be chosen as a Beta tester at this late stage and if nothing else it gives me the opportunity to try all the classes.
I have to say i think this game is going to be massive so the question is TOG going to have a Guild (for both factions) and when is it going to happen.
If it already has can some one tell me where to find it.

Cromwell61, there will be 5 guilds in SWTOR. 2 Republic PvE (one on US server and one on EU server), 2 Empire PvE (one US and one EU), and one Empire PvP (on a US server). Oceanic players it looks like will be playing on the US servers.

Wow, nice article! I gotta say, although I wasn’t quite old enough to stand in line at A New Hope, the feelings you describe concerning Star Wars definitely resonate with me. I’ve never registered my religion as Jedi, but as a kid I used to wish I could be one. Looks like I’m about to get that chance, a few years later, but none the worse for the ware :D

I was lucky enough to play the weekend beta test and i really enjoyed it. I am an old (over 40) and long time mmo fan and i must have played almost all of major mmos so far, i must say that star wars was a very good surprised i didn’t excepted the game to be as good and now i can’t wait for it to start.
I would like to join an Oceanic guild or at least an ‘’Oceanic” server but i can’t find a link on this website that let me join a guild ,the link send me to a page that is saying that i haven’t access.Can someone help me ? thank you.

Hello everyone! Been a long time since I last post. Just thinking of you all. Mainly played fallen earth now and then, my characters name is Shypwreck.

Anywhoo I played the beta test and must say I was very impress. Though the lag in instances was a bit much. I played a range of characters on both sides and I enjoyed playing the Smuggler and the Bounty Hunter much more so than the jedi con and sith inquist. I do not know what server I would be joining, but if you can tell me ahead of time (before 15th of december, yes I have the CE on reserve)I can also get my family and friends to go there also.

All the TOG guilds opted for pre-launch which closed December 2nd. We are all now waiting to see on what server we were placed based on our preferences. Once we know, we will be updating our forums with the good news!

I have some RL friends in TOG (we know each other through the SCAdian “House Daos” based in Portland, Oregon). They will be playing SWTOR and I want to move my guild <Nightblades> (about a dozen of us) onto the same server to play with them. When you establish which server you will be on, would you please to be letting me know? I’m not much of a forums person so if you could email my I’d greatly appreciate it. **benjamind123 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com** But, if this is a hassle I’ll try and check back on or around DEC13.

I am loading the pre order, pre release version for US Republic PVE I cannot find info on what server this is on. All I can find is the information on Oceanic and EU servers or PvP. can someone please help with an update. Thanks

Im brandy new to the forums and the TOG site so i thought i would introduce myself. My name is Ocean Libby, i live in Las Vegas NV. Im a lifelong gamer, comic/sci fi/horror fan. My wife and i play SWTOR together at least 4 days a week..i play a little more then she does. Were still new to MMO’S having only played Warhammer online, DCUO, and now SWTOR. Were both in our mid 30’s..and have been active in seeking a guild. I remember meeting someone in Warhammer who was in TOG. We are casula gamers, like to have fun..play the game for the game not so much into the hardcore competative pvp stuff. That said we would love to be a part of your guild on The Jekk Jekk Tarr..My mains are a Commando on the republic side..Skars..and a Juggernaut on the Imp side..Immortus. Either way thats for taking the time to read this...hope to see someone in game.

Hiya and welcome Grim and your other half. If you haven’t gone to the TOG Barracks yet, have a look at the sticky posts there and then post an application thread over here - http://www.theoldergamers.com/forum/barracks/. It usually gets sorted within the day. Once the application is approved, you can relatively easily join any of the game divisions in TOG via their forums. Just drop a post at one or both our divisions on JJT.

To get an in-game invite, just ask in the global ingame chat channels we have setup - see forum stickies for details. Depending on officer availability it shouldn’t take too long. Just keep pinging it every now and again :)